Christmas Traditions
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: Russel is a dad who only gets to see his kid on occasion. This includes this particular Christmas, which Russell wants to make the best ever. But sometimes the best things are quiet, and simple, like decorating a Christmas tree and starting new traditions. Day six of my 12 days of Christmas challenge!


**This story is a sequel to the story Bits and Pieces, but you don't need to read that one to read this one. And if you're not reading this at all, that's okay too! I just liked the story and the idea of Russell growing up and having a kid and trying to be a better father than his own. Will this story get a sequel? Yeah probably. Will that story be Christmas themed? Yeah, probably. Will that story come out for next year's 12 Days of Christmas challenge? No, probably sooner. We'll see. **

**Enjoy!**

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Russell got every other Christmas with his nine-year-old son Parker. So he wanted to make each Christmas the best Christmas ever, but you couldn't really make every other Christmas the best Christmas ever, especially when Stephanie and Joe could afford iPads and other impractical but shiny presents that Parker was destined to adore. And Russell could afford matching Christmas pajamas. Which they were wearing. And they looked awesome if Russell were to say so himself, however, he knew he couldn't exactly create the best Christmas ever if he couldn't even compete with Joe. Stupid Joe.

"Why didn't you decorate the tree yet?" Parker asked as he opened up boxes.

"I wanted to wait for you. We got most of these ornaments together so I thought it would be more meaningful if we decorate the tree together."

"Cool," Parker grinned, fist-bumping his dad, "what's first?"

"We do lights, then tinsel, then ornaments."

"Sounds good. Mama does all of the decorating at home."

"That's a bummer, decorating is one of the best parts of Christmas. I have a gingerbread house kit we can put together later if you want."

"That would be cool!" Parker smiled, tossing Russell's dog Pretzel a tennis ball and then helping Russell untangle the lights and string them up around the plastic tree.

"Our tree at home is real," Parker mentioned.

"Well, that's kind of cool, but my tree can be used again every year and doesn't have to be thrown away or burned."

"We always have a Christmas tree bonfire and make S'mores."

"You know you can make S'mores in the microwave?" Sometimes Russell got nostalgic for camping and scouting and would pop a marshmallow and halved Hershey bar in between two slabs of graham crackers in the microwave. He supposed he could also just go camping again.

"Can we do that later?" Parker asked excitedly.

"Absolutely! Hey, do you want to go camping sometime in the New Year? Maybe over spring break?"

"Not over Spring Break, mom, Joe, and Kristina and I are going on a cruise for Spring Break."

"That's awesome!" Russell said, disheartened, remembering the adventures he'd gone on when he was Parker's age, and wishing he could share in adventures with his son. Instead, Joe and Stephanie and Parker's stepsister/best friend Kristina were his adventure buddies. And Russell got left in the cold. It wasn't for lack of trying. He did his best to set up grand adventures with his son, and, time and time again, he found them romancing the ordinary, building blanket forts, putting up Christmas decorations, microwaving S'mores. There was nothing wrong with the bits and pieces that they got of each other, Russell remembered the ordinary moments he'd spent with his own father fondly, and the ordinary moments he got with Carl Fredricksen. Those were the kinds of moments he spent with Parker, and they both loved it. That didn't mean he didn't fret over not being the iPad and cruise parent.

"Well, if you'd like to, we can go camping another time."

"Yeah!" Parker grinned.

"Great, it's settled. Over the summer at the very latest." They'd gotten to the tinsel and were stringing it haphazardly. They worked almost in silence until reaching the ornaments.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"Are you ever gonna get married like mama did?"

"Uh, maybe. If I find the right woman."

"And mama wasn't?" Parker guessed, putting up ornaments that he had made.

"No. We're not good together. The best thing about your mother and me as a couple is that we had a wonderful son together. And then we discovered that you were the only thing that we had in common. And we both love you very much."

"I know, dad. I love you too." Parker smiled up at Russell, handing him an ornament they'd gotten from an amusement park. Russell hung the ornament near the top. They were running out of ornaments.

"Let me know when you want to make S'mores."

"Okay." Now they were out of ornaments, and Russell was fixing the angel to the top of the tree.

"That angel," he explained, "represents Carl Fredricksen, who was like a best friend and grandfather to me when I was your age."

"Did he die?" Parker guessed sympathetically.

"Yes." Russell sighed, remembering his friend.

"Did my grandpa die? Your dad?"

"No, why do you think that?" Russell was surprised.

"I never get to see him." Russell glanced away, his heart hurt a little bit.

"Yes, well, he and I don't spend a lot of time together."

"Maybe we should go visit him," Parker suggested offhandedly, standing back and looking at the tree.

"Maybe we should," Russell whispered, swiping at his eyes as his son ran to his room to get something. Russell wished he had a better relationship with his dad and he wished he had a better relationship with his son. Maybe, hopefully, he'd be able to set both of those right. And, hopefully, maybe he could start this Christmas.

"The tree needed something," Parker said, holding out a box of candy canes he must have brought from home. He began hanging up candy canes on a couple of the branches.

"That was a good idea," Russell praised, "you have an artistic eye. I'm proud of you." Parker grinned and they fist-bumped again.

"I won this in class for guessing the number of snowflakes in a jar."

"You're brilliant!"

"There were 115 and I guessed 112."

"That's a was a good guesstimation."

"What's a guesstimation?"

"It's estimation, which is scientific, combined with a guess, which is random."

"Can we make S'mores now?"

"Totally! Do you want to maybe go see your grandpa tomorrow?" Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. If it had been a white Christmas then maybe they would go out in the park and maybe build a snowman or have a snowball fight. But it was definitely not going to snow. So maybe they could drive down and visit his dad, and start new Christmas traditions.

"Yeah!" But first, they would start S'mores.

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**Until Christmas, I'll be releasing a story every day that has a Christmas-y theme.**

**Today ****is Up, next, I'm finally going to write Infinity Train, Rise of the Guardians, Gravity Falls, Dear Evan Hansen, Percy Jackson, and finally, Teen Titans. **


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